Chapter 450
Chapter 450
Seeing Cheong-ryeo at an awards ceremony was nothing new.
Neither VTIC nor TeSTAR had ever failed to produce results that would earn them an invitation since their respective debuts.
However, it had been a very long time since I’d seen him from this particular vantage point.
That is to say, from the perspective of me holding a camera in the audience, snapping photos of the guy.
‘…Hmm.’
Cheong-ryeo was wearing a suit.
He was still the kind of guy who looked like he’d fetch a high price per photo. Having occupied that top spot for over a decade, he naturally carried himself with that kind of aura.
‘Not that I’m planning to sell these anymore.’
Out of habit, I snapped a few shots.
It was then.
“…!”
Cheong-ryeo turned his head. Then, he slowly raised his hand.
“…….”
A light wave.
The problem was that he was waving directly toward the section of the audience where I was sitting.
It was enough to give me the illusion that our eyes had met through the viewfinder.
‘…No way.’
Did he notice?
No. Even for a guy like him, that wouldn't make sense. How could he possibly know without any hints?
‘Unless he can see something using whatever GM functions he might have left….’
At that moment, a pop-up appeared before my eyes.
[Hyung! You’re here?]
It was Keun-dal.
“…! Yeah.”
I accidentally spoke aloud, ignoring the curious glance from the person in the next seat, and replied internally.
‘Did the VTIC member sitting next to you say anything?’
[Uh… no? He hasn’t really spoken to me. …Sh-should I try talking to him?]
‘No.’
Just avoid him.
[Phew.]
Why even ask if he was going to let out such a blatant sigh of relief?
I shook my head and replied.
‘You don’t need to worry about that. Just sit there quietly and you’ll be fine.’
Unlike the radio show, there were no lines to deliver, so he only had one job: sit there and look cool.
[Right?]
Exactly.
Oh, wait.
‘Make sure you stay focused when other artists are performing.’
The moment he yawned or frowned, WeTube would be flooded with clips of it.
‘Even if it’s unavoidable to relax once or twice….’
[…I will absolutely not let my guard down!]
I wanted to tell him it wasn't that serious, but honestly, that was probably the best approach. Let’s just cheer him on.
I raised the camera I had pulled away from my eye and pointed it back toward the artist seating area.
Cheong-ryeo had already turned his gaze back toward the stage.
‘Was it just my imagination?’
I clicked my tongue briefly and took a few more shots of TeSTAR.
The same went for Park Moon-dae, who was currently occupied by Keun-dal. The guy looked quite… convincing when he was focused.
To think that was an imitation of me.
‘…Is this what it feels like?’
I kept pressing the shutter in silence.
Taking photos of TeSTAR’s Park Moon-dae myself felt a bit strange.
“Excuse me, sorry, your arm.”
“Ah, sorry.”
In the process, my arm bumped into the person next to me a few times. This person was taking photos quite aggressively.
I rolled my shoulders and glanced at the person who had spoken to me.
Judging by the similar angle of their camera, this person was also shooting TeSTAR….
“…!!”
…I was right.
It was a familiar face.
The problem was that it was a face I recognized as Ryu Gun-woo.
‘…Ryu Seo-jin.’
The person sitting next to me was a senior from my college photography club. She was also the younger sister of Writer Ryu Seo-rin from Aju-sa.
In other words… she was the fansite master who took photos of me and Keun Se-jin.
“The lighting is trash.”
Ryu Seo-jin grumbled as she adjusted her camera settings. The area was packed with people holding cameras similar to hers.
It was likely because this spot offered the best angles.
“Plus, this ceremony doesn't really go out of its way to catch audience members with cameras, so it’s easy to shoot.”
The photographers were gathered here in plain sight.
The person in the seat next to her was no exception. A well-built man wearing a black mask was holding a camera.
However, his attire—a black suit—was a bit odd. He looked like a clean-cut, respectable professional who was "at work."
‘Is he staff?’
He didn't have an access pass around his neck, but he might have tucked it into his pocket.
She might have been able to guess more accurately if she could see how old he was, but….
‘Whatever.’
She was too busy capturing the idols' faces to care what the man next to her looked like.
Ryu Seo-jin fixed her gaze back on her camera.
‘Did these guys have a fight?’
She noted that Lee Se-jin and Park Moon-dae seemed strangely distant, making it difficult to get a good two-shot of them.
Soon, the performances began.
[The winner of this year’s Hot Performance Award is… Spacer!]
Group after group took to the stage.
Out of the hundreds or thousands of groups that had promoted over the past year, only about twenty made it here, and even among them, there was a clear hierarchy of status and positioning.
‘I need to meet my trade quota.’
Since she had agreed to trade data with other fansite masters in different sections, she put quite a bit of effort into photographing several teams.
However, she didn't have the loyalty or the stamina to photograph teams she wasn't interested in. She was, after all, an office worker who had just finished her shift.
‘That should be enough.’
Coincidentally, TeSTAR had briefly left the artist seating area, so she lowered her camera for a moment to massage her shoulders.
And in that moment, she saw it.
Click.
The dazzling camera work of the suited man next to her.
‘…That’s.’
He… he was good.
She could tell just by the way he moved his camera.
A stable base, fluid movements, and masterful control.
Furthermore, judging by his camera angles….
‘…He’s only shooting the ones that will sell the best?’
He wasn't just shooting popular members.
He was picking out members at the exact moment when their demand was skyrocketing and supply was low.
For instance, someone like Park Min-ha from Mirinae.
She had recently appeared on a variety show individually, appealing to casual fans and causing a sudden surge in her fandom's popularity.
Or members whose demand was consistently high because they were exceptional performers. He was targeting only those kinds of idols.
‘What the…?’
This was impossible unless he had a complete grasp of the industry.
‘Is he staff, or a data seller?’
He was a current top-tier idol and a former data seller.
The twin fansite master, who couldn't possibly have guessed that fact, simply clicked her tongue in regret.
‘I wish he’d been sitting on the other side.’
His angles were almost identical to hers, so there was no point in buying his data.
‘Well, with that style, he probably would’ve just shot Cha Yu-jin among the TeSTAR members anyway.’
She thought idly as she went back to checking her own data, but then she suddenly realized something.
‘…?’
The photography habits of this suited man next to her… were strangely familiar.
They were similar to her own.
‘Hmm.’
She took another careful look.
To be precise, it wasn't just her style. She could see glimpses of tips and postures shared among the members of her old college club.
‘Now that I think about it, his build looks a bit familiar too….’
Just as she was about to take a closer look at Ryu Gun-woo’s face.
“Oh my god, Young-rin!”
A voice shouted from the row behind her.
At the mention of such a famous singer’s name, she reflexively turned her head toward the stage.
Young-rin was indeed walking onto the stage.
‘Already?’
Given her seniority and her stats, she should have appeared much later. Wasn't she scheduled after TeSTAR on the leaked cue sheet?
But looking closely, Young-rin had appeared in the middle of her junior group's performance.
It was a surprise featuring.
‘Oh.’
Young-rin seamlessly blended into the performance formation.
Though she had been incredibly successful as a soloist, this stage served as a reminder that Young-rin had originally been part of a group.
‘She’s overshadowing the juniors.’
If the intention was to promote the juniors, the agency had failed. Just as Ryu Seo-jin was making her cold assessment.
Young-rin looked toward their section and made a gesture.
“Aaaaah!”
“Young-rin!!”
The surroundings became deafening as fans screamed in surround sound. Everyone seemed to think she had made eye contact with them.
Usually, these cases were just delusions of the ‘Young-rin looked at me!’ variety, but….
‘Wait?’
Ryu Seo-jin frowned slightly.
She didn't think Young-rin had looked at her.
‘Didn't Young-rin… just look at the data seller next to me?’
[Thank you!]
I snapped a few more shots of TeSTAR as they received an award on stage.
I was doing it out of habit, but I also intended to check on Keun-dal’s attitude one more time.
‘He’s doing fine.’
I gave him a passing grade but didn't pull the camera away from my face.
There was actually one more reason I was keeping this up.
‘…Hiding my face.’
Just in case Ryu Seo-jin recognized me. Well, I was wearing a mask and it had been years, so I thought the probability was almost zero.
‘I should be extra careful until the bodies swap back.’
I decided to cautiously keep photographing all sorts of idols.
Naturally, my mind automatically updated the price rankings of the idols out of habit from my data-selling days, and one of the highest-ranking female idols appeared a bit earlier than expected.
‘Young-rin.’
The protagonist of the first viral fancam that had earned me a semester’s worth of tuition. That fancam had also helped the then-unknown Young-rin blow up.
‘That was the fancam I took on a rainy day.’
I continued to peer through the viewfinder without much thought.
It was then.
Young-rin pointed her finger toward my camera.
“……!”
I froze for a moment with the camera still held up.
If I wasn't mistaken….
‘Does she actually remember me?’
No way.
That was nearly ten years ago. There was no way she could still remember, and even if she did, how could she possibly recognize me in this instant?
‘But…….’
Just before the final ending, when the broadcast camera wasn't on her, Young-rin turned her gaze again.
—Remember me.
Eye contact. And a hand gesture.
It was a familiar hand movement.
The signature gesture from the song in that rainy-day fancam I had taken back then.
This… couldn't be a coincidence.
“…….”
—Waaaaaaa!!
The stage ended amidst cheers. Young-rin’s gaze vanished along with the lights.
However… I felt strange.
‘How does she remember?’
I wasn't even a fan back then. I had photographed Young-rin a few more times at events afterward, but she had never acted like that.
I had thought the reason that particular fancam had such incredible eye contact was just a matter of good positioning.
But perhaps….
‘…I left an impression.’
On the audience member holding the camera, the one who had filmed the fancam that became the catalyst for her success.
In the past, I would have dismissed it as nonsense, but now I knew.
That it was possible.
‘Because we’re in the same line of work.’
I understood the feeling of looking out at the audience from the stage, of searching for one's own fancams, and of monitoring people's reactions.
And I knew how it would feel to see the camera of the person who took that career-defining fancam again after all these years.
“…….”
I lowered the camera.
Then, I looked at the time displayed at the top of the screen.
—PM 11:21
‘Ah.’
It was time.
I took a slow breath and counted down.
3.
2.
1.
In that instant.
Blink.
“…Phew.”
I closed and opened my eyes.
My field of vision had changed. So had the sound.
—Waaaaaaa!
The cheers were no longer right next to me but echoed from a bit further away.
I was sitting in the artist seating area next to the speakers.
And.
“You’re right on time.”
A hand tapped my shoulder. It was Ryu Cheong-woo.
When I looked up, the other guys seemed to have noticed immediately, as if they had also been checking the time.
“…! Moon-dae hyung,”
“Are you okay?”
Of course.
I nodded, looking around just enough to not seem awkward.
The members greeted me as discreetly as possible, either with a grin or by handing me a bottle of water.
If we weren't in the artist seating area, they would have made much more of a fuss.
‘And they would have asked me first if this was the end of the body swapping.’
Actually, I was curious about that too….
“…….”
I dismissed the pop-up without looking at it first.
I would block out anything that could affect the performance for now.
‘The same goes for that side.’
When I turned my head, the VTIC seats where Cheong-ryeo had been sitting earlier were right next to us.
But those seats were already empty. He had likely left to prepare for his own stage.
‘Good.’
It was better this way. Right now, only one thing was urgent.
Because it was finally time.
[Artist of the Year / Album – 2nd Quarter]
[Congratulations.]
[TeSTAR / Savior]
A few minutes later.
I headed backstage to go up on stage.
The comeback stage I had waited for so long was right before my eyes.
“Excuse me, just a moment.”
“Ye-yes?”
“Ah, I knew it. Ryu Gun-woo.”
“…??”
“It’s been a while. You’re still doing this?”
‘…Hyung!!’
…Needless to say, I had no idea that Keun-dal was currently facing this situation in the audience.